This year’s Human Development Report (HDR) takes stock of human development, including progress towards the MDGs. Looking beyond statistics, it highlights the human costs of missed targets and broken promises. Extreme inequality between countries and within countries is identified as one of the main barriers to human development—and as a powerful brake on accelerated progress towards the MDGs.

Excerpt: The Report is about the scale of the challenge facing the world at the start of the 10-year countdown to 2015. Its focus is on what governments in rich countries can do to keep their side of the global partnership bargain. This does not imply that governments in developing countries have no responsibility. On the contrary, they have primary responsibility. No amount of international cooperation can compensate for the actions of governments that fail to prioritize human development, to respect human rights, to tackle inequality or to root out corruption. But without a renewed commitment to cooperation backed by practical action, the MDGs will be missed—and the Millennium Declaration will go down in history as just one more
empty promise. .

For more information, statistics, and past publications, please visit the Human Development Reports website.